Hancock's War: Conflict on the Southern Plains (Frontier Military) (Frontier Military Series) Review

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Hancock's War: Conflict on the Southern Plains (Frontier Military) (Frontier Military Series) ReviewIf I were younger I'd order a second copy of this book. A copy that I would seal in plastic and sell at a handsome profit in the future. Not far into Mr. Chalfant's book I came to the realization that I was reading a soon to become classic of superior workmanship. A history about the impact of Manifest Destiny upon native people and settlers during the expansion of the Washington government into the Southern Plains territory. This is a history like few others. A very elite few of western historical writers like Rodger Darling, John S. Grey, Robert M. Utley and now William L. Chalfant.

I really liked the skillful analysis and comprehensive research. Analysis that raises important questions about some primary sources of information. I learned much from my first reading. For example: a greater appreciation of what the native people of the Southern Plains were up against, and also some important new insights into the Custer character.
I look forward to this historians next work. Five stars is simply not sufficient ten stars would be better.
Hancock's War: Conflict on the Southern Plains (Frontier Military) (Frontier Military Series) Overview
When General Winfield Scott Hancock led a military expedition across Kansas, Colorado, and Nebraska in 1867, his purpose was a show of force that would curtail Indian raiding sparked by the Sand Creek massacre of 1864. But the havoc he and his troops wrought on the plains served only to further incite the tribes and inflame passions on both sides, disrupting U.S.-Indian relations for more than a decade.

William Y. Chalfant has devoted years of research to produce a detailed narrative covering the entire scope of Hancock's "Expedition for the Plains." This first thorough scholarly history of the ill-conceived expedition offers an unequivocal evaluation of military strategies and a culturally sensitive interpretation of Indian motivations and reactions.

Chalfant explores the vastly different ways of life that separated the Cheyennes and U.S. policymakers, and argues that neither side was willing or able to understand the needs of the other. He shows how Hancock's efforts were counterproductive, brought untold misery to Indians and whites alike, and led to the wars of 1868.

One of the most significant Indian campaigns in American history, Hancock's War is in many ways a microcosm of all the wars between Indians and whites on the high plains. Chalfant's sweeping narrative forms the definitive history of a questionable enterprise.


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Addie of the Flint Hills: A Prairie Child During the Depression (1915-1935) Review

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Addie of the Flint Hills: A Prairie Child During the Depression (1915-1935) ReviewAddie of the Flint Hills: A Prairie Child During the Depression is the true-life memoir of 94-year-old Addie Sorace, with particular focus on the years of 1915 to 1935. Addie's family was rural, and they survived the ups and downs of the fluctuating U.S. economy during the 1920s and 1930s. The Great Depression, and the destructive "Dust Bowl" that all but obliterated the land many a farm dweller, remain fresh and vivid in her mind. Addie stays fair and impartial in her chronicle, inviting the reader to make his or her own judgments on the people she remembers. An absorbing saga of adjusting to hard times, Addie of the Flint Hills is highly recommended.
Addie of the Flint Hills: A Prairie Child During the Depression (1915-1935) OverviewAddie of the Flint Hills is the memoir of 94-year-old Addie Sorace. It is a tale of human struggle that transcends time and place to strongly echo our modern family situations and current economic times. Addie s quiet courage will resonate and inspire readers.Addie, a small-town girl from deep in the heartland of America, begins her story in 1915 as wheat prices are booming. She shares the day-to-day unfolding of her life and the life of her family as they deal with the turbulent US economy of the 1920s and 1930s. During this period the price of wheat drops, followed by precipitous declines in stocks, minerals and farmland. The story ends in 1935 as the family grapples with the effects of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. Addie s vivid memories transport the reader back to the hardscrabble life that was typical for rural Americans of her generation. Throughout it all, Addie offers a true and fair chronicle of daily life. She invites readers to come to their own conclusions about people, events and what constitutes the good life.In the process, Addie of the Flint Hills weaves a complex tale of ordinary folks struggling with familiar themes: a father s work takes him far from home, a highly- educated woman and mother is alone, and a young girl never learns that she is beautiful. As we follow her adventures, we watch a shy and self-effacing young woman, one who has no idea of her true inner and outer beauty, finally come into her own. For her part, Addie has learned that with age comes acceptance and insight, and sometimes, even, a bit of wisdom. The final chapters will melt your heart. Praise for ADDIE OF THE FLINT HILLS "...riveting... it adds an important perspective to our present-day angst about the economy and our stressed environment...I was reminded of Willa Cather s poignant portraits of life on the evocative but unforgiving midwestern prairie. "-John Hennessey, the former dean of the Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College"...a hauntingly beautiful memoir ... that adds to the growing literature about life on the Great Plains. Like Willa Cather's My Antonia, She evokes the human drama set within an epic-scale landscape."-Denise Low, Poet Laureate of Kansas 2007-2009"... a gem... [the] Flint Hills past, brought back to life ... It puts you in contact with a mysterious resilience, with the sheer beauty of life blossoming, no matter what."-Dr. Margory Stewart, Washburn University, Topeka, KS "Unique and universal, the remarkable life story of Adaline Rogler Sorace looks to the past with affection, honesty, and clarity of insight. In a voice distinguished by intelligence and refinement she recounts a story of the Flint Hills as strong and as deep as the prairie grass. -Jim Hoy, author of Flint Hills Cowboys "... the photographs are pitch-perfect vernacular imagery at its best."-Jeff Curto, photographer and co-ordinator of the College of DuPage Photography Program "An intriguing view of the early twentieth century. The story carries the reader into a place and time long gone." -Pamela Riney-Kehrberg, Author and Director, Agriculture History and Rural Studies Program, Iowa State University

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Jayhawkers: The Civil War Brigade of James Henry Lane Review

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Jayhawkers: The Civil War Brigade of James Henry Lane ReviewThis is a very detailed and thorough account of James Lane's role in the anti-slavery movement in the Civil War. Benedict meticulously weaves a tale showing Lane's fervent desire to abolish slavery in Kansas. A great read!Jayhawkers: The Civil War Brigade of James Henry Lane OverviewNo person excited greater emotion in Kansas than James Henry Lane, the U.S. senator who led a volunteer brigade in 1861–1862. In fighting numerous skirmishes, liberating hundreds of slaves, burning portions of four towns, and murdering half a dozen men, Lane and his brigade garnered national attention as the saviors of Kansas and the terror of Missouri.
This first book-length study of the "jayhawkers," as the men of Lane's brigade were known, takes a fresh look at their exploits and notoriety. Bryce Benedict draws on a wealth of previously unexploited sources, including letters by brigade members, to dramatically re-create the violence along the Kansas-Missouri border and challenge some of the time-honored depictions of Lane's unit as bloodthirsty and indiscriminately violent.

Bringing to life an era of guerillas, bushwhackers, and slave stealers, Jayhawkers also describes how Lane's brigade was organized and equipped and provides details regarding staff and casualties. Assessing the extent to which the jayhawkers followed accepted rules of warfare, Benedict argues that Lane set a precedent for the Union Army's eventual adoption of "hard" tactics toward civilians.

An entertaining story rich in detail, Jayhawkers will captivate scholars and history enthusiasts as it sheds new light on the unfettered violence on this western fringe of the Civil War.


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Kansas Quilts and Quilters Review

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Kansas Quilts and Quilters ReviewWhile this is a goody history book on the art of quilting, I don't feel the title is a good representation of what is within the book's covers. After hearing and reading about the Kansas Quilt Project of 1986, I was anxious to get my hands on a copy of this book to see a good representative portion of the 13,000 quilts that were registered. What I found was a book with only 50 pictures (give or take a couple because I counted them) that actually had quilts in them. Half of those 50 were not even quilts "discovered" during their project, but quilts already housed in various museums that in my opinion, being a Kansan, have "been seen before". Also, of the pictures taken from the Quilt Project discovery, the majority of them were in black and white. Part of the art of quilts is being able to see their colors, can't do that with this book.
I hoped for a photographic look into the quilts made by our Mothers, Grandmothers, etc of Kansas. The authors stated that there were no unique "Kansas" quilts or quilts that set themselves off with a "Made in Kansas" look to them, so instead they showed a VERY small sample of the quilts they found, lots of pictures of people and things (no quilts) and a lot of conjecture over what ethnic group should actually take credit for bringing the art of quilting to Kansas.
This book was a disappointment to me being the Daughter, Granddaughter, and Great Granddaughter of Kansas quilters. I hoped I would see a wonderful picture book of quilts made by Kansas women. That did not happen.Kansas Quilts and Quilters OverviewMary Ellison came to Kansas in 1870, keeping house for her father and numerous siblings before raising her own family. By the age of 92, she estimated, she'd made more than three hundred quilts. Rose Kretsinger studied design at the turn of the century in Europe and at the Art Institute of Chicago. Quilts made from her award-winning designs are now in an art museum collection. Kay McFarland sold quilts to put herself through law school in the 1960s. Today she is the first woman on the Kansas Supreme Court.These three women, along with thousands of other Kansans from a variety of backgrounds, have pursued quiltmaking for economic and artistic purposes. The result of their efforts: a treasury of quilts, from plain to fancy, utilitarian to decorative.In 1986 the Kansas Quilt Project began an ambitious effort to find and document Kansas quilts. Aided by legions of volunteers, this group catalogued 13,107 quilts and quilt tops made in Kansas or brought to the state. From this cataloguing, from interviews with quilters and their descendants, and from extensive historical research, the six authors of this book have produced the first comprehensive discussion of quilts and quiltmaking in Kansas.They focus on specific types of quilts and fabrics, such as red-and-green appliqué quilts and conversation prints; regional and ethnic quiltmaking communities, including Mennonites, African-Americans, and an unusually prolific and talented group of quilters in Emporia a half-century ago; and present-day quilting groups.Featuring 165 photographs, 68 in full-color, this volume is a visually rich mosaic that illuminates the enduring community of quiltmakers in Kansas and chronicles its relation to the historical and cultural heritage of the state.

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A Texas Cowboy's Journal: Up the Trail to Kansas in 1868 (Western Legacies Series) Review

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A Texas Cowboy's Journal: Up the Trail to Kansas in 1868 (Western Legacies Series) ReviewBy far the most interesting non-fiction piece on the early West I've ever read. I am so thankful that Mr. Rand decided against changing any of Jack Bailey's (the drover) wording or phrasing. It made the whole book more powerful and authentic.
I started at 0300 one morning and didn't put it down until he (jack) reached home. I would have paid three times the price for this hardback and felt fully justified. What a wonderful job by David Dary (the editor) and Charles E. Rand (the transcriber). If you have any interest at all in the true West, you've got to read this book.A Texas Cowboy's Journal: Up the Trail to Kansas in 1868 (Western Legacies Series) Overview
In this earliest known day-by-day journal of a cattle drive from Texas to Kansas, Jack Bailey, a North Texas farmer, describes what it was like to live and work as a cowboy in the southern plains just after the Civil War. We follow Bailey as the drive moves northward into Kansas and then as his party returns to Texas through eastern Kansas, southwestern Missouri, northwestern Arkansas, and Indian Territory.

For readers steeped in romantic cowboy legend, the journal contains surprises. Bailey's time on the trail was hardly lonely. We travel with him as he encounters Indians, U.S. soldiers, Mexicans, freed slaves, and cowboys working other drives. He and other crew members-including women-battle hunger, thirst, illness, discomfort, and pain. Cowboys quarrel and play practical jokes on each other and, at night, sing songs around the campfire.

David Dary's thorough introduction and footnotes place the journal in historical context.


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Ballots and Bullets: The Bloody County Seat Wars of Kansas Review

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Ballots and Bullets: The Bloody County Seat Wars of Kansas ReviewThis book is absolutely facinating. I have lived in western Kansas for 12 years and always wondered why there were so many different roads going to absolutely every little one horse town. I realized that there were several towns that are now just footnotes in history that were once bustling places. Many of these towns were in much nicer locations than the towns currently located in the area. There is also some lingering animosity between towns and rivalries are fierce. The unincorporated portions of OK panhandle are still very desolate and isolated. It was eye opening.Ballots and Bullets: The Bloody County Seat Wars of Kansas Overview
"Bleeding Kansas" has earned its name. A state already scarred from the violence wrought by the likes of John Brown and William Quantrill, Kansas witnessed further episodes of wanton bloodshed in the late nineteenth century when settlers poured into a supposedly peaceful frontier.

Focusing on the tumultuous years 1885–1892, Robert K. DeArment's compelling narrative is the first to reveal the complete story of the county seat wars that raged in Kansas-controversial episodes that made national news in the late 1900s but are largely unknown today.

With a story populated by some of the most notorious characters of the West-including Sam Wood, Theodosius Botkin, Bat Masterson, and Bill Tilghman-Ballots and Bullets relives the violence that only avarice can breed. Ordinary, decent citizens were drawn into bitter conflicts to advance their own communities and block the fortunes of other towns, even if it meant using hired gunmen.

Gripping and historically accurate, DeArment's account reveals a shocking chapter in the history of the West.


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Historic Photos of Kansas Review

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Historic Photos of Kansas ReviewOkay for starters I live in Kansas and have since 1978 when my dad got stationed at his final Army base before he retired. I was happy to get the opportunity to review this book. I am a bit of a history addict. I love anything to do with our history especially my state.
This book is packed with photos and history of different towns in Kansas from as far back as the 1800's. My kids were in awe over the photos and the sayings under the photo's. My kids just sat for a long time just reading and looking at the different photos. They couldn't believe that Kansas use to look like that. This coming from kids use to I Pods , Computers, TV's, Video Games and a big one Electricity. They couldn't get over how people dressed back then. The kids would come across a picture of a town that they have been to and couldn't believe that years ago it looked like the pictures in the book.
This is defiantly a book I will be keeping around my house. Not only is it cool to look at but it is a history lesson and the kids have learned a lot about Kansas from the book already. This has tought them how long we have come with our technology since the late 1800's. My kids just don't know how lucky they are to just have running water in the house. Just think if they had to go use an out house like shown in many of these photo's that are on properties in the book.
One of the photos in the book the kids just had fun with was the roller coaster in Coffeyville in 1907. I have a sister in law that now lives in Coffeyville and the kids just couldn't believe they had roller coasters that far back they said "mom its so small, Wow".
My family and I really enjoyed this book. We will defiantly keep this out to look threw it over and over again. It sure will come in handy for my youngest ones when they have to do reports on Kansas for Kansas days. They can even bring the book in to show their class photos of old Kansas. This has been one of my favorite books that I have had the opportunity to review this year.
*I received a complementary copy of Historic Photos Of Kansas for review. This was provided to me by Turner Publishing Co.Historic Photos of Kansas OverviewPositioned in the geographic center of the contiguous 48 states, Kansas has played a vital role in the nation's development. From its Native American roots, the state is named for the Kansa tribe, Kansas has been both eyewitness and participant to history. No state, literally or figuratively, has been more in the middle of America's fascinating story than the Sunflower State. Culled from Library of Congress and Kansas Historical Society collections, the nearly 200 striking black-and-white images in Historic Photos of Kansas trace a progression from Bleeding Kansas, a period of violent struggle between free-state abolitionists and pro-slavery sympathizers, to the state's many contributions to westward expansion, railroads, agriculture, and America at war. Although these photos speak for themselves, when combined with captions and chapter introductions, they will transport curious readers to a close-up view of Kansans helping to write history.

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Trails South: The Wagon-Road Economy in the Dodge City-Panhandle Region Review

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Trails South: The Wagon-Road Economy in the Dodge City-Panhandle Region ReviewMy mother was born in the Texas Panhandle in 1917 and immigrated as a young woman to San Francisco. I was always interested in family history and remembered all her stories and thought I had a pretty good sense of what life had been like for her growing up. Recently, I started reading about the region and it's been SUCH an eye-opener. My mom has been dead for 11 years now, and reading books like these have just put all the information I had in context -- it's like I had a bunch of loose beads, and they are starting to be strung together into a sensible pattern.
Anyway, just want to say that when I got this book from the SF library, I wasn't sure it would be of much interest to me -- seemed like it focused mostly on Kansas. (But then, I was so ignorant I didn't know at the time how intimately involved Dodge City and W. Texas were with each other!) I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It is a serious intelligent book that really paints a clear picture of a critical part of western history -- which is how the goods were moved for trade (bufallo hides, etc) and how they were moved in to the country to supply the ranchers and later the settlers, merchants, farmers. It doesn't SOUND very interseting, I know -- but I guarantee you that it really is -- and it has transformed my understanding of that part of the world before 1900 -- and the world that my mother born into which, though changed significantly, was still populated with people who worked in this trade and who remembered those days. My great-grandfather owned six square miles of land near Ft. Worth where he raised stock to improve herds. SIX SQUARE MILES! I assumed he was a very wealthy man and once said to my mother that I thought this. She looked at me a bit quizzically and replied "It's not like there was anything to BUY, you know..."
Wow -- was she right!
Trails South: The Wagon-Road Economy in the Dodge City-Panhandle Region Overview

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What's the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America Review

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What's the Matter with Kansas How Conservatives Won the Heart of America ReviewIn his book 1984, George Orwell described the state of perpetual war in his fictional future society by saying that the war wasn't meant to be won, it was only meant to be continuous. In WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH KANSAS?, Thomas Frank illustrates how, and how effectively, the neoconservative right has implemented Orwell's concepts via a neverending war over culture and values.
Using his home state of Kansas as the model and focal point, Frank asks rhetorically why it is that Kansans so willingly espouse right-wing social issues (creationism, defunding public schools, prayer in schools, pro-life) while simultaneously allowing their state to become economically devastated by Republican free market policies of unfettered, unregulated capitalism. In other words, why do Kansans (and many other Red Staters) vote consistently against their pocketbooks, against their own economic self-interest?
With great specificity, Frank illustrates these behaviors and their devastating economic consequences by describing individuals and communities in Kansas. These are some of the strongest parts of his book, since they demonstrate through real people and real towns how life has changed, and continues to change, under Republican conservative rule. If anything, Frank could use more of these examples, particularly more description of some of the small towns and communities in his state that are dying a slow and tortured economic death. Regardless, the examples given convey the sense that Kansans are voting Red even as they vote themselves economically dead.
Frank correctly ascribes this seemingly self-contradictory behavior to the idea that Conservatives have discovered a means to incite permanent "backlash" among the Red Staters through culture wars. Whatever the issue, whether it's Janet Jackson's right breast or gay marriage in Massachusetts, Conservative politicians whip up fierce indignation and activism by threatening the loss of American moral values to the eastern, intellectual elite who support the denigration of those values and the denial of moral absolutes. And, as Frank points out, despite years of bitter denunciation, almost nothing has changed. The war rages on, but the Conservatives rarely win even a skirmish.
By focusing attention on culture issues, the Conservatives not only distract their followers from economic concerns, they remove capitalism itself as an issue. For Red Staters, capitalism is a natural force, and free markets are an absolute good. Concerns about environment, globalization, estate taxes, Wal-Martization, health and welfare all disappear, since laissez-faire is an inviolable principle. Capitalism cannot and must not be regulated in this worldview, and any restrictions and regulations designed to "thwart" it are necessarily wrong if not evil. The fact that culture itself -- MTV, Hollywood, Howard Stern, Fear Factor -- is a capitalist product that follows the same profit motivations goes unnoticed. In Kansas, as in most places, there is no connection in people's minds between culture and capitalism.
Frank has put his thumb directly on the source of America's current problems, the so-called Red State, Blue State divide. As I write this review on July 9, 2004, the United States remains embroiled in Iraq and Afghanistan, our standing in the world is at an all-time low, Tom Ridge is warning against another imminent Al-Qaeda attack, the country is hemorrhaging jobs, young kids can less and less afford to go to college, gas and milk prices have soared to all-time highs, working men and women can't make ends meet even with two or more jobs, millions are without health insurance, the President claims the power to arrest and detain anyone he chooses without legal representation, and our education system is becoming enslaved to meaningless standardized tests. What solutions does our Republican President and Republican legislative branch offer? The Senate is too busy preparing for an all-out legislative war over a Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage to worry about real problems. The newspaper every day tells us just how correct Thomas Frank is in his analysis. Kansas isn't just Kansas, Kansis is us!
Anyone who truly wants to understand today's upside-down political world, who wants to understand how middle class people can enthusiastically support tax cuts that give them nothing and the rich more money and power, should read WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH KANSAS? Mr. Frank offers clear and straightforward explanation of this bizarre phenomenon, and his insights and implications should send chills down the spines of those who espouse a free, fair, and open society. To quote Frank's closing line: that the "fever-dream of martyrdom that Kansas follows today...invites us all to join in, to lay down our lives so others might cash out at the top; to renounce forever our middle-American prosperity in pursuit of a crimson fantasy of middle-American righteousness." How much better can it be said?What's the Matter with Kansas How Conservatives Won the Heart of America Overview

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Kansas Paper Money: An Illustrated History, 1854-1935 Review

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Kansas Paper Money: An Illustrated History, 1854-1935 ReviewThe purpose of this book is to update the original 1980 Societyof Paper Money Collectors Kansas catalog. The author's past 30-plus years of in-depth study and research has produced an excellent monogram on this topic. As the book's title states, it's richly supplied with many black and white illustrations.
No question the obsolete currency of early Kansas paper money is very rare. Keep in mind Kansas was in existence for only a short period of the obsolete note issuing period of which was from the early 1800s until the 1860s. Kansas became a Territory in 1854 and achieved statehood in 1861. The federal government took over the issuing of paper money soon thereafter. Hence, Kansas had only about 10 years to which bankers and merchants issued the obsolete notes that are today such popular collectors items.
The book is organized into four major periods. These are: (1) Territorial Period (1854-1861), (2) Statehoold Period (Jan.-June, 1861) (3) Civil War (1861-1863), and (4) Post Civil War (1864-1879). The last two chapters deal with miscellanious scrip (1870-1930) and the Natonal Bank Note Period (1864-1935).
Since there were different types of issues, the notes are further separated into three major categories. These are issues from banks, merchants, and municipal governments. Banks are further categorized as fraudulent and intended banks, commonly know as "wildcats" of the territorial period. The author's intent is to list the notes by type of issuer, in the historical period that was their issue.
In the very early days Atchison and Leavenworth were logical choices for the establishment of the first two banks in Kansas. Hence, in many of the smaller towns the merchants were forced to include common banking practices into the operation of their business in order to survive.
Lastly, the book contains eight appendices. A few of the more notable ones are modern reproductions of bank notes, altered notes, known written denomination of script, a list of pre-1863 banks that may have issued scrip and printers and engravers of pre-1880 notes. the book contains an excellent bibliography.
The book is highly recommended to collectors of Kansas paper money and those interested in the early commercial development of Kansas, particularly the development of Kansas banking.Kansas Paper Money: An Illustrated History, 1854-1935 OverviewKansas had only a few years in which its bankers and merchants issued the now-obsolete notes that have become such popular--and rare--collector's items. This heavily illustrated history details Kansas paper bank notes and scrip through 1935. Like the Society of Paper Money Collectors' state catalogs it provides history and listings of specific notes and comments on their rarity, but it is unique in grouping notes and issuers alphabetically according to the economic period in which the notes were issued. Notes are separated into three major categories: municipal governments, merchants, and banks. Appendices examine modern reproductions of obsolete currency, altered notes and write-in scrip, the printers and engravers who created the physical notes, and more.

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And Hell Followed With It: Life and Death in a Kansas Tornado Review

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And Hell Followed With It: Life and Death in a Kansas Tornado ReviewThis book could be called a very entertaining historical novel except for the fact that it is based on real characters who play themselves and a real natural event more dramatic than fiction. Bonar does an exceptional job of weaving the lives of dozens of real people into the compelling story of their existence before and after a monster tornado that leveled much of a major US city.
Incredible detail is also provided concerning weather myths, forecasts and the city and state. Two major myths that were destroyed by the tornado were that Burnetts Mound would protect the city and that the southwest corner of a basement was the safest location during a tornado. It is hard to believe that the author was able to bring a 44 year old event to life and make it as fresh as if it happened yesterday. This book deserves a wide audience.And Hell Followed With It: Life and Death in a Kansas Tornado OverviewA stunning, illustrated account of devastation and survival in the wake of one of America s most destructive tornadoes. Colossal trees snap like matchsticks. A gigantic orange fireball explodes in the funnel's black core. Horses are sucked up and spit out alive by 200-mile-per-hour winds. These were just a few of the scenes that unfolded on June 8, 1966, when a massive EF-5 tornado cut a 22-mile swath across eastern Kansas and straight through Topeka--Kansas's capital city. When it was over, 16 people were dead, more than 500 were injured, and property damage had reached $100 million, making the tornado the most destructive in U.S. history up to that time. That fateful day comes back to life in And Hell Followed With It: Life and Death in a Kansas Tornado. Author Bonar Menninger has interviewed dozens of survivors to construct a tightly woven narrative that conveys in gut-wrenching detail what it's like when nature careens out of control and ordinary people face extraordinary, life-threatening situations. The book features dozens of remarkable photographs, as well as a series of engaging, hand-drawn maps that place readers alongside individuals in the book as the tornado approaches.

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Bust to Boom: Documentary Photographs of Kansas, 1936-1949 Review

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Bust to Boom: Documentary Photographs of Kansas, 1936-1949 ReviewVery few of the adults pictured in this book smile with their teeth showing. You can see why by the handful who do: the teeth tell you better than anything else that this is Kansas in the 1930s and dental care is an unaffordable luxury.
The earliest photographs in this book were created on behalf of the Farm Security Administration, a New Deal project which (among many other things) attempted to educate the public about rural poverty. These photographs show closed banks, empty expressions, and farms turned to dust -- the people here did not know what had hit them or when the Depression would be over. The late 1930s photographs are not entirely bleak: they document 4-H fairs and the FSA's improvement efforts. The photographs from World War II show Kansas at work: at Fort Riley, on trains, in wartime industrial jobs. By the time the post-war photographs were taken (for Standard Oil of New Jersey), Kansas had recovered to become a different, and more modern, state.
Oddly for a photography book, the text commentary is so outstanding that it almost outshines the pictures. The author, Donald Worster, gives the reader an interesting history of Kansas as it approached the "Dirty Thirties," when the dust turned day to night, no one had a spare dime and the state started to empty. Worster describes the state during World War II, when young men went to war and everyone else went back to work. Although the state slowly recovered, the Depression, the war and their aftermath scarred all Kansans who lived through them. Worster's erudite and highly readable commentary creates in one's mind a separate, unique set of pictures that enhances the experience of viewing the actual photographs.Bust to Boom: Documentary Photographs of Kansas, 1936-1949 Overview"I was supposed to be taking pictures to show that this was a great country and I was finding out it really was. . . . I didn't know it at the time, but I was having a last look at America as it used to be."--John VachonKansans of the 1930s and 1940s lived through more sweeping changes than any other generation past or present. Destructive forces of nature, an economy gone awry, and a devastating--and ironically, economically renewing--war left the world irrevocably altered. In this captivating collection, some of America's best-known documentary photographers provide a valuable glimpse into that tumultuous time.Constance Schulz has brought together a diverse array of photographs from three extensive documentary projects: the Farm Security Administration, the Office of War Information, and Standard Oil of New Jersey. The result is a unique visual record of American life by photographers Arthur Rothstein, John Vachon, Russell Lee, Marion Post Wolcott, Jack Delano, Edwin and Louise Rosskam, and Charles Rotkin. Collectively, their work has immortalized the faces and emotions of FSA-aided farmers and the harsh lives of coal miners, dust-bowl debris and tumbleweeds, a failed bank and a thriving stockyard, locomotives and Mexican-American railroad workers, oil derricks, wheat country, black cavalry troops, and 4-H Club fairs.In his enlightening introduction, environmental historian Donald Worster provides historical context for the images. Examining state, national, and international events from 1930 to 1950, he explores the agricultural, business, social, political, and environmental climates as well as the composition of the state's population and its inevitable shift away from rural life toward urbanization and industrialization. Schulz also supplies fundamental information on the photographers and the photographic projects.Originally created as a means to promote government and business programs, the FSA, OWI, and Standard Oil photographs--most never before published--are an excellent source for individuals and communities searching for a visual record of their local heritage during two of the most crucial decades in American history.This 8" x 9-1/2" book contains 94 photographs.

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Dodge City: The Early Years, 1872-1886 (Western Lands and Waters) Review

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Dodge City: The Early Years, 1872-1886 (Western Lands and Waters) ReviewFor the western interested reader, this is a good book to pick up and read. It tells the history of Dodge City with the buffalo hunting, Indian troubles, cowboys and gunfights that occurred in this rough and wild town during its heyday.
The stories are there regarding the buffalo hunters, their sad destruction of this animal for their hides, and their run in with the Indians. The depiction of that fight at Adobe Walls (which is actually south of Dodge City) is one of the best that I've read. There was no telling of the "buffalo wallow" fight though (the only time that a civilian won the Medal of Honor).
The stories are also there regarding the day of the cowboys with the shipment of steers from Dodge, and the gunfights that occurred in the town. I was actually surprised at how many gunfights there were in Dodge City. Of course, there were the well known ones: Bat Masterson's gunfight in the Plaza and the gunfight in the Long Branch between Cock-Eyed Frank Loving and Levi Richardson (interesting names, huh?). But the lesser known gunfights including those between Mysterious Dave Mather a couple of individuals in separate instances and the gunfight between Marshall Tilghman and a party of drovers at the Arkansas bridge, and many others are also shared. During the late 1870s and early 1880s, Dodge City was a wild and woolly town with a number of gunfights and murders and dozens of saloons.
There are also stories of the politics and attempts to reform the town which ultimately occurred when the cattle trade essentially stopped in 1886. Also, Bat Masterson is mentioned in this book many times in each chapter. Obviously, besides being the sheriff of the county that Dodge City was located in, he was a key individual in the history of the town.
There are many other individuals who are mentioned as key to the creation and development of the town. So many, in fact, that I couldn't keep up with them.
Again, this book is for the western interested reader and not for the casual reader who may find this somewhat boring.Dodge City: The Early Years, 1872-1886 (Western Lands and Waters) OverviewThe most famous cattle town of the trail-driving era, Dodge City, Kansas, holds a special allure for western historians and enthusiasts alike. Wm. B. Shillingberg now goes beyond the violence for which the town became notorious, more fully documenting its early history by uncovering the economic, political, and social forces that shaped Dodge.


The author cuts through legend and myth to depict a Dodge City that few people really know. He takes readers back to the southwestern Kansas frontier and traces a town's evolution from a military site for protecting Santa Fe commerce, to a wild and lawless buffalo hunters' rendezvous, to a regional freighting center and the primary shipping point for Texas cattle on the central plains. Amid all this activity a community sprang up in 1872 and was still stumbling toward maturity fourteen years later when the great herds no longer came. Shillingberg describes this transformation of place and purpose, along with its attendant political machinations and business fervor, revealing singular personalities, social turmoil, and a local economy in flux. Along the way, the book offers new perspectives on the Battle of Adobe Walls, the constant maneuvering of railroad moguls and cattle barons, and the exploits of such legendary figures as Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp.

Drawing on a wide range of primary sources, from city records to personal papers, Dodge City: The Early Years, 1872–1886 surpasses previous accounts of the town by depicting complex individuals and events in greater depth and detail. It shows us a community concerned with more than brothels, saloons, and gunplay. It will stand as the authoritative history of this quintessential western town.


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What It Means to Be a Jayhawk: Bill Self and Kansas's Greatest Players (What It Means to Be...) Review

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What It Means to Be a Jayhawk: Bill Self and Kansas's Greatest Players (What It Means to Be...) ReviewWhether it is the preface by Bill Self or the countless stories from athletes who have graced the fields at KU, any fan of college sports will enjoy reading about Kansas sports history. Most interesting for me was the early days of KU and the athletes who loved KU just as much as the recent athletes. This book is a great trip down memory lane and clearly makes any Kansas grad or fan proud of OUR school. Rock Chalk.What It Means to Be a Jayhawk: Bill Self and Kansas's Greatest Players (What It Means to Be...) OverviewMaybe you heard about Gale Sayers's graceful elegance on the football field from your father. Perhaps the larger-than-life presence of Wilt Chamberlain on the basketball court was mentioned by a television commentator. It could have been that you saw Jim Ryun's famous stride on the track in person. Regardless of your vantage point, you'll learn firsthand the stories of these and other University of Kansas greats in What It Means to Be a Jayhawk.

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S is for Sunflower: A Kansas Alphabet (Discover America State by State) Review

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S is for Sunflower: A Kansas Alphabet (Discover America State by State) Reviewthis is another in the fabulous state alphabet series only this talks about a state that is very poorly understood by others. Learn a whole new Kansas and even better makes a great hostess gift for those visiting or for those you visit!S is for Sunflower: A Kansas Alphabet (Discover America State by State) OverviewNicknamed the "world's breadbasket," the contributions from the great state of Kansas reverberate far beyond its borders.Kansas has given us leaders in politics (Dwight D. Eisenhower); aviation (Amelia Earhart); and sports (Wilt Chamberlain); leads our nation in wheat production; and fuels our Hollywood image of the Wild West (Dodge City).From A-Z, "S is for Sunflower" explores the broad plain of history and people that make up the state of Kansas.

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Civil War on the Missouri-Kansas Border Review

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Civil War on the Missouri-Kansas Border ReviewMeticulously researched and cogently written, Gilmore's bombshell book breaks new ground in describing what really happened during the brutal guerrilla war fought in America's heartland from 1854 to 1865. Finally, a dedicated historian of the fraticidal conflict in Missouri and Kansas steps forward with the courage to tell the unvarnished truth and with the scholarship to back it up.
For generations, the depredations of Confederate guerrillas such as William Clarke Quantrill, Frank and Jesse James, Cole Younger and "Bloody Bill" Anderson have been touted as the epitome of heartlessly cruel barbarians masquerading as soldiers. But what about the Union men whose equally barbaric brutality from the war's outset sparked the guerrillas' savage response? Gilmore documents the war crimes on both sides. He reveals the murderous actions of Union men such as Crazy Jim Lane, a US Senator from the new state of Kansas who led an army of thieves and killers on a bloody rampage of looting and killing in western Missouri in 1861, then furnished his Lawrence, Kansas, home with the stolen property; Colonel Charles Jennison, a psychopathic dwarf whose Kansas "Red Legs" periodically left the safety of their Lawrence refuge to indiscriminately murder and rob both pro- and anti-slavery Missourians; and, perhaps the conflict's most successful war criminal, Union Gen. Thomas Ewing, promulgator of the infamous General Orders Number 11, an atrocity that disposssed 20,000 civilians, left five Missouri counties in desolate ruin and probably killed hundreds of innocents (Ewing let the brutal "Red Legs" inforce the order's execution). Ewing practiced "Ethinic Cleansing" 130 years before it made world headlines in the 1990's Balkan conflict. Moreove, Gilmore's book documents Ewing's illegal imprisoning of civilians, murdering of prisoners and summary executions. Gilmore shows that neither side had a monopoly on terror.
Undoubtedly, those who have not yet heard the uncomfortable truth about Union atrocities during the bloody guerrilla war in Missouri and Kansas will be troubled to learn in Gilmore's book that Union men could be just as ruthless as the Confederate guerrillas. Predictably, some will "shoot the messenger", unfairly pilloring Gilmore for telling the harsh truth. Yet, Gilmore is certainly no "neo-Confederate" apologist, nor is this descendant of Union soldiers attempting to justify the ruthless actions of the Confederate guerrillas. Gilmore is a historian who is performing a valuable service by putting that brutal conflict within the framework of the era in which it occurred and very properly documenting the depredations committed by the Union side as well as the guerrilla side. It is a story that needs to be told and has for too long been merely a "dirty little secret," conveniently swept under the historical carpet. Instead of being condemned, Gilmore should be applauded for having the courage to step forward with the true story. Civil War on the Missouri-Kansas Border is an important new book and is highly recommended.Civil War on the Missouri-Kansas Border OverviewDuring the Civil War, the western front was the scene of some of that conflictís bloodiest and most barbaric encounters as Union raiders and Confederate guerrillas pursued each other from farm to farm with equal disregard for civilian casualties. Historical accounts of these events overwhelmingly favor the victorious Union standpoint, characterizing the Southern fighters as wanton, unprincipled savages. But in fact, as the author, himself a descendant of Union soldiers, discovered, the bushwhackersí violent reactions were understandable, given the reign of terror they endured as a result of Lincolnís total war in the West.

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The Nature of Kansas Lands Review

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The Nature of Kansas Lands ReviewYes, Environonomy is a real word because I made it up and you just read it. Isaac Asimov got away with introducing such new words as "robotics", and "positronic". I applaud all efforts in humans trying to learn to appreciate the environment as more than just a place to drive all terrain vehicles. How about test driving Kansas "in your head" with this book, whose fantastic pictures and environmental knowledge (I checked, and at least one of the authors knows about plant taxonomy) will give you a quick education about the land around you.The Nature of Kansas Lands OverviewHeading west on I-70 through Kansas, travelers can experience surprising changes as eastern deciduous forests give way first to tallgrass, then shortgrass prairie interspersed with canyonlands. But beyond the highway there's even more to discover: picturesque farms, river valleys, and gypsum bluffs that make the Sunflower State a natural wonderland boasting expansive beauty and rich biological diversity.This book testifies to Kansas's natural abundance through spectacular color photography and sumptuous prose. Sponsored by the Kansas Land Trust, The Nature of Kansas Lands focuses on the world of nature that awaits us just beyond our fences: waterways, woodlands, grasslands, farmlands, and high plains. It's been carefully crafted to encourage residents and visitors alike to explore backcountry roads, learn more about native flora and wildlife, and generally open their eyes to the state's wild beauty and ecological complexity.Turn the pages of this book and you'll immediately be struck by 46 stunning color landscapes by Edward Robison, capturing scenes as serene as a wetlands fog or a night star hanging over the prairie--or as dramatic as a threatening storm. Meanwhile, more than two dozen wildlife close-ups by Kyle Gerstner bring you face-to-face with prairie chickens and bison, red-tailed hawks and collared lizards. Seventeen evocative essays by Elizabeth Schultz lead you on forays into Kansas's diverse landscapes, interpreting not only the nature of the land but also the nature found on it. Sidebars by biologist Kelly Kindscher complement Schultz's impressionism with a bevy of facts about wildlife and weather, forests and farming.This gorgeous book reveals a side of life in Kansas that beckons us to explore, enjoy, and learn more about the state's rich natural heritage.Published for the Kansas Land Trust by the University Press of Kansas

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Next Year Country: Dust to Dust in Western Kansas, 1890-1940 Review

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Next Year Country: Dust to Dust in Western Kansas, 1890-1940 ReviewThis book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand what life was and is like on the unforgiving Great Plains. Although this book focuses on Western Kansas, it provides a vivid picture of the hopes and dreams of those who populated the Great Plains between 1890-1940.
Being a fifth generation resident of Western Kansas, this book gives me a startling view of what challenges my ancestors went through, and makes me proud that we have survived to this day in "Next Year Country."
Craig Miner's personal connection to Western Kansas makes this book especially poignant, and his attention to detail is vast.
Most importantly, the book causes one to ponder the future of the Great Plains as a whole, and gives one hope that our forbearers survived obstacles much greater than we face today.Next Year Country: Dust to Dust in Western Kansas, 1890-1940 OverviewWest of Highway 81, there lies another Kansas. While it accounts for two-thirds of the state's land area, it is sparsely populated and nearly desert dry. Before 1940, it was still distinctly rural-a place that some residents called the "Edge of the World."Several generations of the Miner family have lived and farmed in Ness County, providing Craig Miner with a rich and very personal backdrop for this heartfelt and compelling portrait of western Kansas. In Next Year Country he recounts the resilience of his fellow Kansans through two depressions and the Dust Bowl, showing how the region changed dramatically over fifty years-not for the better, some might say.In this striking regional history, Miner blends the voices of real people with writings of small-town journalists to show life as it was really lived from 1890 to 1940. He has fashioned a richly textured look at determined individuals as they confronted the vagaries of raw Nature and learned to adapt to the machine age. And he captures the drama and vitality of rural and small-town life at a time when children could die in a blizzard on their way home from school, in a place where gaping holes of cellars and wells from abandoned homesteads posed real hazards to nighttime travelers.No mere nostalgic reverie, Miner's book chronicles the hard challenges to these Kansans' ambitious efforts to create a regional economy and society based on wheat in an area once thought only marginally suitable for cereal crops. His diverse topics include the history of agricultural experiment stations, new approaches to irrigation, and the impact of the tractor and the combine; the role of women's clubs in developing culture, the growth of higher education, and the rise of the secession movement; and how people responded to pests, from prairie dogs to grasshoppers, and to radical groups, from the IWW to the KKK. Next Year Country depicts the kind of rugged individualism that is often touted in America but seldom seen anymore, a testament to how people dealt with both Nature and transformative change. It is both a love song to Kansas and the best kind of regional history, showing that life has to be taken on its own terms to understand how people really lived.

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The Devil's Tickets: A Night of Bridge, a Fatal Hand, and a New American Age Review

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The Devil's Tickets: A Night of Bridge, a Fatal Hand, and a New American Age ReviewI'm not a bridge player but really like reading about interesting periods in history like the roaring 20's. I found so many parallels between some of the people and situations in the book and what's happening today. It's a really interesting read and I learned a lot. Plus, there's a juicy crime element that adds to the fun.The Devil's Tickets: A Night of Bridge, a Fatal Hand, and a New American Age Overview

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Our Town on the Plains: J.J. Pennell's Photographs of Junction City, Kansas, 1893-1922 Review

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Our Town on the Plains: J.J. Pennell's Photographs of Junction City, Kansas, 1893-1922 ReviewI love books like this that give a peek into bygone lives. Having grown up in Kansas, I found it particularly fascinating as it probably parallels my hometown's development (just different faces and buildings).
Here's an interview with the author from the University of Kansas' "OREAD":
Shortridge said looking at the photographs was similar to reading a novel, providing a detailed look at small-town life during the turn of the century.
"This is an opportunity to get a fairly intimate view of an experience that is in all of our pasts, captured in a very different way," he said.
In order to provide an accurate and in-depth description of the places and events photographed, Shortridge went to the archives of the Junction City Union newspaper.
"You could really make the picture come alive, because you had a newspaper reporter telling you about the context of the photo," he said. "You were able to get that richness that you might not have otherwise had."
Although Pennell captured a wide range of life in Junction City, Shortridge cautions readers about the limits of the collection.
"Pennell was middle class and male, and the world he photographed was biased toward those kinds of people," he said. "There are aspects of the society that didn't get photographed as often."
Shortridge's favorite photograph was taken the year the automobile debuted in Junction City.
"It's a photograph of a 1905 Cadillac all decked out in tissue paper and four people dressed in finery, with smiles on their faces that say all is right with the world," he said. "You get a sense that people felt very much in control of their own destiny."
Our Town on the Plains: J.J. Pennell's Photographs of Junction City, Kansas, 1893-1922 OverviewBy the beginning of the twentieth century, photography had become accessible to average Americans as a means of documenting their lives. Although most people did not yet own cameras, they flocked to commercial photographers for affordable portraits that became the family heirlooms we gape at in wonder today. One of the most accomplished of these photographers was Joseph Judd Pennell of Junction City, Kansas.Pennell had one of the best equipped studios in the state and took thousands of photographs recording the public life of his town. People from all walks of life posed for his camera, and his images not only constitute one of America's great photography collections but also one of the richest visual documentations we have of this era.Our Town on the Plains reproduces more than one hundred of Pennell's best photographs. Taken from 1893 to 1922, these wonderfully crisp images depict life in Junction City and nearby Fort Riley: people posing with studio props or in front of their homes, group shots of schools and clubs, commissioned photographs of buildings and businesses, public events like parades and unveilings, and ordinary people at work on their farms and in their shops.These photographs suggest a world of solid civic and personal values, with Pennell's wide-angle lens lending a sense of spaciousness to everyday life. We see a baseball diamond from the late 1800s and a bar so typical of its day it was used in the opening credits of Cheers, images as inspiring as Teddy Roosevelt on the campaign trail or as nostalgic as storefront windows with groceries or corsets. They also depict a time of major transition in American life, as some people pose with their horse and buggy and others with their automobile.James Shortridge's text, interwoven with Pennell's images, takes readers on a stroll through Junction City in this golden age and points out many of the changes that were sweeping America. An introductory essay by art historian John Pultz reviews Pennell's career during the heyday of studio photography.Pennell's work is widely celebrated, having appeared in numerous books and PBS documentaries. Our Town on the Plains now preserves some of the best of those photographs in a volume through which we can visit our past and, in the process, discover ourselves.This 8-1/2 x 10 inch book contains 146 photographs printed in duotone.

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